Venturi slot for aeroplane wings



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VENTURI SLOT FOR AEROPLANE WINGS Filed Jul 25, 1929 INVENTOR Patentmil June 3, 1930. I i

[UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE BENJAMIN JAY STEINMETZ, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

VENTURI SLOT FOR AEROPLANE WINGS Application filed July 25, 1929. Serial No. 380,851.

This invention relates to improvements in tinued lifting power, enabling the plane to aeroplanes and more particularly to the fly Without danger of mishap to its occuwing construction thereof, whether campants. bered or plain, and as used in connection A further feature is in the provision of with planes having one or more pairs of means for attaining the foregoing object 55 wings. Y which are simple in theirapplication, practi- It is an established fact that the area cal in operation, readily'controllable and upon the upper surface of a wing in flight easy to apply. j is an area of reduced or negative pressure These objects are accomplished by the audit is that partial vacuum that sustains novel construction and arrangement of parts 60 a plane while it is in rapid motion; it is hereinafter described and illustrated in the this sustaining lift which must be mainannexed drawing, forming a material part tained until the plane alights. of this disclosure, andin which 1 4 i In the conventional plane it. is necessary Figure l is a perspective view of a conto maintain a speed of at least 40 to ventional type of monoplane, looking from 40 abling a plane to carry a much greater load miles per hour to create a suiiicientlyevacthe under side, showing an adaptation of uated areaupon the upper surface of the the invention. wings to nable th l n to fly, Thi eed F igure 2 is a transverse sectional view of makes it diflicult fora plane to easily arise a Wing illustrating an application of the 20 from or descend upon any but specially improvement. 7 prepared and lengthy flying fields and none Figure 3 1s a fragmentary side elevation but an extremely skillful aviator can land f he lpOdY f the machine, showing an a plane at high s eed without mishap. automatlcmeans of plane wing vent control.

When a plane tilts upward the wings lose As shown in the drawing, the body or 25 th i normal lift, I th i i lin d t t fuselage of the machine, designated by the the air that passed over them in \a smooth numeral 10, is provided withlanding gear even stream becomes a whirling eddy which including wheels 11 and driven by a profrustrates the effect of a partial vacuum, and peller 12 at the front as usual.

so the lift breaks down and the plane loses At the rear are horizontal rudders 13 and 30 its sustaining support and falls out ofcona steering rudder 14:, while extending from trol to inevitable catastrophe. the sides, over the top, are wings 15, all of It is therefore the object of the present which form no part of the present inveninvention to provide, means for producing tlOIl, which relates exclusively to Controlan additional and constant suctional effect lable means for reducing. the air pressure on 35 by the action of the rush of air upon the top of the wings and increasing the comunder surface drawing the air fromihe pression therebelow. upper Surface through Slots Provlded m This is accomplished by forming elongatnovel manner and used to create a greater ed ducts 16 through the Wings, extending Vacuum at both hlgh and low speed, approximately from the ends to'the body and inclined downwardly towards the rear than upon win s of like area without the use of the p gz invention, and particw from the top at an angle 1n advance of the larly to enable a plane to maintain its necesa the position .being' Preferably sary lift upon alighting and taking off at a p mm the advancmg edge and Parallel 45- very low rate of speed. Wltl} v 1 m 3 Al b th use f thi d i an aero Fixed ad acent the rear edge of the ducts plane, when in an inclined state instead of, 1 l are brackets extfmdmg the wings losing the supporting lift, by the below h Wlngs the same b a glven a eddying currents formed upon its upper sur stream 11KB effect, and attached gi ly 50 face, maintain the flow evenly and with conthe brackets are plates 18 extending below 100 the ducts and reaching forwardly so that their front .edges extend in advance.

Hinged to these front edges, as at 19, are plate deflectors 20 extending towards the front and controlled by links 21 at their forward end edges, the links reaching upward through the lower walls of the wings to be pivotally connected with levers 22 fixed on a shaft 23 extending lengthwise through the wing structure.

Fixed on the shaft 23 is a gear wheel 24 meshed with a worm 25 directly driven by the shaft 26 of a pinion 27 rotatable within the wing structure and actuated by a rack 28 slidable in a horizontal plane transversely within the wing structure, preferably along its lower surface.

The rack 28 is actuated by a rod 29 projecting through the front or leading edge of the wing and urged outwardly by the action of a spring 30.

Fixed to the extending end of the rod 29 is a Vane 31 preferably disposed at the center of the wing and curved upwardly in conformity with the leading edge of the wing which it abuts under pressure of the air when the machine is advancing at a high rate of speed, thereby changing the inclination of the deflector and its Venturi effect.

Obviously more than one vane may be employed and vanes man be adjusted relatively in a manner to raise and lower the deflector at will, thus controlling the suctional effect through the duct 16, the device partaking of the nature of a venturi in its action on the air, and is entirely automatic in its action.

From the foregoing it will be seen that when the deflector 20 is in its operative position it will produce a suctional effect, tending to draw the air downwardly through the inclined ducts 16 in the manner described and when parallel with the wing substantially no obstruction is present.

Although the improvements have been described with considerable detail and with respect to certain particular forms of the invention, it is not desired to be'limited to such details since many changes and modi fications may well be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention in its broadest aspect.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed as new and desired to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. An aeroplane wing having a duct extending lengthwise through its rear portion the walls of the duct being inclined rearwardly at an angle to the upper face of the wing, a fixed plate spaced below the duct, a deflector plate hinged to the front edge of said fixed plate to extend forwardly, and automatic means for varying the inclination of said deflector plate.

2. An aeroplane wing having a duct ex- 

